1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake lever assembly, and more particularly to a hydraulic brake lever assembly with multi-stage movement.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional hydraulic brake system includes a hydraulic brake lever assembly and a hydraulic brake caliper assembly connected with the hydraulic brake lever assembly by an oil tube. The hydraulic brake lever assembly is mounted on a handlebar of a bicycle/motorcycle and the hydraulic brake caliper assembly is mounted on a frame or a fork of the bicycle/motorcycle. By the connection of the oil tube, the oil is compressed and flows between the hydraulic brake lever assembly and the hydraulic brake caliper assembly. The conventional hydraulic brake lever assembly in accordance with the prior art includes a first cylinder having a first cylindrical body and a first piston disposed therein and a lever connected to the first cylinder. The hydraulic brake caliper assembly includes a second cylinder having a second cylindrical body and a second piston disposed therein. When pulling the lever to drive the first piston, the oil pressure in the first cylinder is transferred to the second cylinder. Therefore the second piston is driven to push a brake shoe to a disk/rotor for braking purpose. A special type of hydraulic brake caliper assembly also provides two stages braking. For different braking purpose, the hydraulic brake caliper assembly provides a speed reduction stage for gradually providing a braking force and an emergency braking stage for quickly providing a great braking force. However it still has the problem that the rider does not know which stage the hydraulic brake caliper assembly currently actuated when pulling the lever. Therefore the braking force is not controlled by the rider's will. It is dangerous for the rider to provide more braking force when the rider thinks that the current stage is in the speed reduction stage.
Furthermore, in a conventional hydraulic brake lever is quite limited. Once the pads have been pressed against the disk/rotor no further lever travel can occur due to the incompressibility of the fluid, this lack of movement results in poor rider sensitivity and hence the potential for unsmooth braking.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional hydraulic brake lever assembly.